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Minor Keys

Is it too early to get excited about Stephen Hunt? Talk about coming out of nowhere! That kid is as hot as any in quite some time. A very nice start to the season. He's only 22, too, so playing in A+ the entire season wouldn't be horrible for his development. That said, he and Grandal might just make the Carolina lineup solid.

Add those two to Cody Puckett (who's playing 2B well enough-- for now-- to allow his 1.182 OPS in the middle of the diamond) and Mike Costanzo (1.011 OPS while playing third base) and you could have four guys with serious potential to hit.

Too bad they'll still have to pitch.

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Is it too early to be concerned about Alonso? 60 ABs, I know, but his line (.246/.279/.344/.624) won't get it done in LF or at 1B. The kid has to get it done this year. I'm on record as saying he's a Sean Casey clone. Could that be optimistic?

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Is it too early to think this season will be more of the same as last season for Todd Frazier? 70-ish ABs and he's showing power, but his BA is rough. If he can play six spots, he's still got value, but when was the last time he played something other than LF? For goodness' sake, they brought up Eymann to man the hot corner rather than try him there.

Last edited by Scrap Irony; 04-27-2011 at 06:27 PM.

"You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat."
-- Christy Matthewson
"Show me a good loser and I'll show you an idiot."
-- Leo Durocher

Re: Minor Keys

I'll give it another two-three weeks before I get too worked up about Stephen Hunt. But he has been amazing . . . I'm pleased that Boxberger is making me look stupid. I've never cared for the cut of his jib, but he's now getting it done, big-time . . . Don't see Alonso as Casey, because Casey was geared for base hits. Alonso's long swing is what concerns me. We've excused his long stretches of relative unproductivity by citing his hamate injury, etc.; but at some point he has to just do it . . . On the other hand, I felt the same sort of way about Boxberger. And Josh Ravin, who's been looking fabulous . . . The points about Frazier seem legitimate . . . Don't forget Neftali Soto at Carolina, when he comes off the DL . . . Two words of the day: Blaine Howell.

Re: Minor Keys

Yonder Alonso has still faced more lefties than righties this season. Give him time and he is going to be fine, but when a left is facing lefties 3-5 times every other day right out of the gate, it is probably going to result in them struggling to find a good rhythm.

Re: Minor Keys

Regarding Yonder, I find this interesting, but of course, based on very few ABs:

Bases Empty .324
Runners On .148
Scoring Position .059

And while Yonder has 1 more AB against LHP than RHP

vs Left .226
vs Right .267

Compared to Dorn:

Bases Empty .250
Runners On .423
Scoring Position .500

vs Left .160 (25 AB)
vs Right .455 (33 AB)

If you are looking for a guy to platoon in LF...

But, but, but....I thought Dorn was just organizational fodder?

One of these days somebody's going to wise up and give this kid a chance in the bigs. What's the percentage of left-handed pitchers to right-handed pitchers in the bigs? I'm guessing it's at least 2 to 1. He flat out MASHES righties....and he pretty much always has. I was really hoping to see him brought up instead of Hermida. Oh well.

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